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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29448813">Live and Learn</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uncanny_Valley_Girl/pseuds/Uncanny_Valley_Girl'>Uncanny_Valley_Girl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action/Adventure, Canon-Typical Violence, Drama, Family Drama, Family Feels, Friendship, Gen, Human Disaster Anakin Skywalker, Humor, Male-Female Friendship, Master &amp; Padawan Relationship(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 03:47:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>15,342</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29448813</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uncanny_Valley_Girl/pseuds/Uncanny_Valley_Girl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ahsoka may be the apprentice and Anakin the master, but this time, it's her turn to teach him a lesson.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anakin Skywalker &amp; Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi &amp; Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi &amp; Anakin Skywalker &amp; Ahsoka Tano</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>38</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Credit to the wonderful Clio_Codex for beta reading all four chapters of this in the space of a week.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>Just another day in the best legion ever, </em>Ahsoka Tano thought happily.</p>
<p>On board the <em>Resolute, </em>it was business as usual. One of the crew called out orders for standard maintenance over the intercom. A clone trooper sat on top of a crate of thermal detonators eating a bag of chips. Another trooper ran in to announce that something was on fire in Block 2, and a third trooper took off running down the corridor, before turning back to shout, “Which way is Block 2?” In the corner, two astromech droids dueled for a charging outlet.</p>
<p>There was only one thing that could make this day better.</p>
<p>“Commander Tano, Captain Rex, report to the starboard bridge,” the confident voice of Anakin Skywalker broadcasted over the speakers. “We’re live.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka resisted the urge to jump in place. <em>Finally! </em>she thought. The perfect day in space was complete.</p>
<p>She practically sprinted all the way to the bridge. In the corridors, clones saluted or waved as she passed. She smiled and called greetings without slowing. Near the lift tube, an astromech tootled across her path, and she dodged around it. On her way into the tube, she nearly barreled right into a trooper.</p>
<p>“You’re in a hurry, Commander,” he said, amused.</p>
<p>“Yes!” she said. “We have a mission.”</p>
<p>As the lift tube door opened onto the command center, she drew a deep breath and emerged at a more dignified pace. A clone squadron stood in a line down the central walkway, and she lifted her chin as she walked past. The nine troopers puffed their chests out and saluted her, in perfect unison. She barely restrained her smile. And when she glanced to the end of the bridge, the urge to grin became stronger still.</p>
<p>Behind the holotable, Anakin stood with his hands behind his back, a tactical display already projected and ready over the table. Tall and skinny as a rail, just twenty standard years old, her human master had the usual twinkle in his blue eyes, the usual just-woke-up messiness to his wavy brown hair. But his boyish looks didn’t fool any of the 501<sup>st</sup>. Their General was the best and the boldest the galaxy had to offer.</p>
<p>“Good to see you all,” he addressed them. “I hope you’ve been resting up during this incredibly slow, boring chase, because today, we’re gonna need to bring our best.”</p>
<p>“Did you get a lock on General Fjorkin’s carrier?” Ahsoka asked.</p>
<p>“That’s right, Snips,” Anakin said. “Took us long enough, but they fell right into our trap. Just like I said they would.” He put his hands on his hips and smirked. Then he shifted into a more businesslike gear. “Saying this for your benefit, Rex, since you were tied up at the med station last time we engaged him: General Ti managed to intercept some transmissions that suggested one of the Separatist generals, Pytetor Fjorkin, is operating from a hidden space station somewhere between Lothal and Eadu.”</p>
<p>“Fjorkin,” Ahsoka corrected, noting the way her master pronounced the general’s name <em>Fyorkin, </em>instead of <em>Fa-jorkin. </em></p>
<p>“Fjorkin,” Anakin said, correctly, his tone brisk. “Anyway, we managed to track the outgoing transmissions to one of Fjorkin’s carriers, and we sent in some droids to hack into the ship computers and find the location of the secret base.</p>
<p>“And….” He deflated a little. “That didn’t work. Our droids were intercepted and captured by the carrier’s crew. But, after a <em>long </em>few days of searching, we’ve managed to track the same carrier down again. Props to the information crew for that.” He shot a proud glance toward the clones monitoring the computers below them. “And better yet, our droids are still operational. So here’s the new plan. These brave clones you see here – hand-picked by Captain Rex himself – will be the new infiltrator squad. The leader of the new infiltrator squad will be me. We’ll break in, hack that computer, find the base, and bring our droids home.”</p>
<p>The clones exchanged excited glances and nods. But Ahsoka scowled.</p>
<p>“You’re going in there yourself?” she said uncertainly. “Isn’t that a little risky? Now that the crew of that carrier found enemy droids on board, they’re going to be on red alert for another break-in.”</p>
<p>“That’s exactly why I’m going,” Anakin said. “It’ll be a dangerous mission, with very little margin for error. I don’t want to put that on my men. But I think I can pull it off.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka’s scowl didn’t go away. “And you’re okay with leaving the ship here exposed? With you and Rex both on the infiltration squad, the rest of your men will be a sitting target, with no leader.”</p>
<p>“They’ll have a leader,” Anakin said nonchalantly. “They’ll have you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>An hour later, she stood in the hangar to see them off.</p>
<p><em>I’m gonna be in charge of this whole ship in a minute, </em>she reminded herself. That always made her feel a little uneasy. Anakin might not have always made sure things were running smoothly. In fact, <em>she</em> usually ended up monitoring <em>him</em>, not the other way around. But at least when he was there, she had his orders to fall back on. And he did always take responsibility when things went south. She’d give him that much.</p>
<p>She realized that she had her hands clasped in front of her, and unclasped them.</p>
<p>“Well, wish me luck,” Anakin said as he hoisted himself into the cockpit of his fighter.</p>
<p>Ahsoka drew in a deep breath. “I really wish you’d reconsider this, Master,” she said.</p>
<p>Anakin raised his eyebrows. “Oh? That doesn’t sound like you. And I’m not sure it’s your place as a Padawan to question my plans, either.” Under his teasing tone, she sensed a genuine reprimand.</p>
<p>“It’s just that… this plan didn’t work the last time you tried it,” she said, all the more determined to stand her ground.</p>
<p>“Yeah, well, you can’t win them all. Live and learn, right? Obviously, droids weren’t the right choice for this job.” He flipped the switch for the viewscreen of his starfighter, the displays lighting up in front of him. From his port in the back, R2-D2 let out an indignant whistle. “No offense, Artoo,” Anakin said. Then he turned to face Ahsoka. “Really. You’ve got nothing to worry about. I’ll be back here with the data in time for lunch.”</p>
<p>“You’re sure of that,” she said, not quite making it a question.</p>
<p>“I’m sure.” He pressed the button on his controls and the canopy of the starfighter began to lower. “So let’s not hear anymore about it, okay?”</p>
<p>“Okay,” Ahsoka conceded.</p>
<p>The starfighter’s canopy snapped down and the airlock hissed on. “Alright, let’s move it, people!” Anakin said, his voice now crackling over Ahsoka’s comm. “Remember, we’re infiltrating this thing, not destroying it. Steer clear of scanners and don’t fire unless you absolutely have to. Oh, and Snips?” He glanced at her from the cockpit, eyes twinkling. “I want this ship still here in one piece when I get back, okay?”</p>
<p>Ahsoka gave him a begrudging smile. “Okay,” she said.</p>
<p>The light on her comm went out as they dropped her from the link. The hangar door opened, releasing the flock of starfighters into the black. For a second, she saw them arcing up and away overhead. Then, with a spattering of hyperspace tails, they were gone.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was around lunchtime when Communications picked up General Pytetor Fjorkin’s message, which was being broadcast over every Republic channel in the sector.</p>
<p><em>Jedi, </em>it played on a loop. <em>This is Pytetor Fjorkin. I’ve come to strike a bargain. I have in my possession Jedi General Anakin Skywalker and an elite squadron of clone troopers, along with seven of their droids. You set the price. Highest bidder takes all. But be warned: act quickly. The longer I have them, the less you will like what you get when I return them to you. </em></p>
<p>The men on the bridge stared blank-faced, exchanging dismayed glances. Ahsoka put her head in her hand.</p>
<p>“<em>Great,</em>” she said with a groan.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Well, one thing is certain,” Ahsoka said. She put a hand up to her chin, facing the clones who stood on the other side of the holo-table. “We are <em>not </em>sending another squad in there after them.”</p>
<p>“What other choice do we have?” one trooper asked gruffly. “We can’t just leave the general and our brothers in there. That slimeball said he’d do something to them. And I don’t like the idea of paying up like he wants us to.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka sighed. “I know. We’re not going to pay up. And we won’t let him do anything to Anakin, or to the clones. I just need to think of a way to get them out.”</p>
<p>“Unfortunately, I think paying up could be our only option,” another clone addressed the first one, seeming to ignore her addition. “I don’t like it any more’n you do, but if it’s that or let him do whatever he’s planning on doing to them….”</p>
<p>“What do you think he’s going to do?” a third trooper asked.</p>
<p>“I don’t know, but it can’t be anything good. He said so himself.”</p>
<p>“I say we just give him what he wants,” said a lieutenant. “There’s no one close by who can come to our aid, and we don’t want this escalating beyond what we can handle. If we don’t cooperate, who knows what he’ll do with ‘em.”</p>
<p>“We can’t do that,” the first trooper said, raising his voice. “We give in to a small-time Seppie like this ‘un without even <em>tryin’ </em>to put up a fight, you know how that’s gonna make us look to the other clankers?”</p>
<p>“We need to get them back,” the second trooper argued. “We’re stranded out here without our general. We’ve practically got a target on our backs, and meanwhile, this <em>Fjorkin </em>has got a very valuable bargaining chip. We don’t pay up, he’ll find someone else who will.”</p>
<p>“We can’t – ” the first trooper began.</p>
<p>“Stop!” Ahsoka shouted over all of them. “Just… stop fighting.” She raised her hands, breathing a little harder in spite of herself. “I’ll think of something. We won’t abandon them. Just give me time.”</p>
<p>“We don’t <em>have </em>time, Commander,” the Lieutenant said glumly. “That carrier is probably on its way to Fjorkin’s secret base right now. And once it gets there….” He shook his head.</p>
<p>But Ahsoka’s eyes widened, her lekku prickling. “<em>That carrier is going to the secret base now,</em>” she repeated under her breath. She looked at the holo-table, her thoughts racing. The corners of her mouth lifted. “Troopers, I think I might have an idea,” she said. “Although, it’s not one you’re going to like.”</p>
<p>The men were silent, all eyes on her.</p>
<p>The Lieutenant raised one eyebrow. “And why’s that?”</p>
<p>“Well, it… involves sending another squad in there after them.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Alright everyone,” Ahsoka addressed the squad on the bridge. “Ready for Operation Hack the Carrier, take three. Out of four. Sergeant, your squad will infiltrate the carrier the same way General Skywalker’s did, with the intention of getting caught by Fjorkin’s crew. Sending a whole squad to make it look good.”</p>
<p>The squad saluted.</p>
<p>“Try to get into the station’s computer system before you get captured. It took Fjorkin almost five hours to announce that he’d captured Skywalker’s squad, so I don’t think he’ll intercept you immediately. Don’t worry about saving the information or getting it back to us. Just hack the navicomputers, and memorize what time the carrier is scheduled to come out of hyperspace at the secret base. That’s it. Don’t even need to memorize the base’s location. Just the day and time it’s scheduled to arrive.</p>
<p>“Once you have that, send a transmission to me, with just that information. Break up the information into as many messages as possible. One for the number of days until the scheduled arrival, one for the time of day. That way, the transmissions will be so small that they’ll blend right in with the ship’s standard data exchange and will hopefully go unnoticed, The crew will capture you and put you in the same place as the others, I’m guessing. And that’s when we initiate Take Four. Tony, you have the tracker, right?”</p>
<p>“Right here, sir,” said CT-1750, nicknamed Tony. He raised his hand and wiggled the small piercing in his left ear.</p>
<p>“Perfect. It’s inactive right now, just like we discussed, and all the controls are in the receiver, which <em>I</em> have.” Ahsoka waved the companion device, which she held in her hand. “Because of that, Fjorkin’s security shouldn’t even register it as tech.” She smirked. “They’ll just think it’s a fashion choice. I’ll send the activation code at the day and time specified by your transmission, which should mean the tracker will come on just in time for the carrier to come out of hyperspace at the secret base.</p>
<p>“After that, Fjorkin’s tech <em>will </em>pick up the earring as a tracker, so we’ll need to move fast. We jump to the location of Tony’s beacon, get our guys back, and take Fjorkin’s base <em>out.</em> I know storming the base wasn’t the plan originally. It’ll be risky. But it’s the only option we’ve got. And I have to say, I think General Skywalker would be proud.” She stood taller, smirked again. “So, is everyone ready?”</p>
<p>“Yes, sir!” the clones said in unison.</p>
<p>“Good. Then let’s get this show on the road.”</p>
<p>And with that, they filed out.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You seem tense, Commander Tano.” Admiral Yularen glanced sideways from the ship’s front viewport, hands folded behind his back.</p>
<p>Ahsoka paused her pacing for just a second to look at him. “Yeah, a little,” she admitted, letting out her breath.</p>
<p>She’d been pacing the bridge non-stop since the squad left an hour ago. It had been easy to stay confident while giving the briefing, but now a million doubts crossed her mind. What if they were captured right away, before getting a shot at the computers, and all she’d done was lose nine more men? What if Fjorkin killed them instead of capturing them? What if the tracker wasn’t really completely invisible and he picked it up and tracked it back to the ship’s location?</p>
<p>She wondered if Anakin ever felt the same way once his plans were underway. She wondered what he was feeling now. Of course, that thought only made things ten times worse.</p>
<p>“How do you do it, Admiral?” she asked. “Stay so calm when everything is riding on you.”</p>
<p>He inclined his head, giving her a fatherly look. “It’s a learned skill,” he said. “You’ll get better at it with time.” He seemed to think for a moment, then said, “Has Skywalker ever given you any advice on the matter?”</p>
<p>She thought for a few seconds and came up blank. “Not really,” she said drily, then realized her tone might have reflected worse on Anakin than she’d intended. “I think it just comes natural to him,” she added. “Same as it does for you.”</p>
<p>“Well, we’re also not fifteen,” the Admiral said.</p>
<p>“I’m only fourteen.”</p>
<p>“All the more reason you still have plenty of time to learn.” Yularen smiled at her, then turned back to the view. “Ask your master once we’ve got him back,” he added as an afterthought. “Learning how to conduct yourself in battle is just as important as learning strategy and fighting maneuvers. It’s part of his duty as a mentor to teach you that as well.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka nodded. “Yes, sir,” she said.</p>
<p>As short as the conversation had been, it had invigorated her, made her feel better about things. She wondered why she’d never talked to Yularen that way in the past. She was debating whether or not to resume pacing when a ping came through her comm. Her heartrate instantly spiked as she lifted it from her belt. When she flipped it on, she jumped in place.</p>
<p>“<em>Five!</em>” she said, almost a squeal of excitement. She waved the comm at Yularen. “It came through! Five. We have five days.” She drew a deep breath in, smiling. Then she clipped her comm back to her belt, squared her shoulders, and marched to the intercom to alert her men.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The night before the fifth day, she barely slept at all. Today was the moment of truth, and also the moment when she could most easily send the entire mission crashing down. If the remote activation of the tracker wasn’t successful, she might expose her spies and the ship without getting them any closer to their objective.</p>
<p><em>That’s what Anakin would have done, </em>she assured herself, telling herself she’d made the right choice. <em>That’s what he always does. Gives himself the hardest job so if we mess up, no one else has to take the blame. </em></p>
<p>It did make her feel like a good leader, knowing she hadn’t put the activation on one of the techs. She only hoped she’d be up to the challenge. At four in the morning, she finally gave up on sleeping.</p>
<p><em>Might as well be working if I’m awake anyway, </em>she thought. Another one of Anakin’s classic moves. But of course, he usually had actual work to do when she found him sitting at a computer terminal at five in the morning. She didn’t today. She ended up sitting at a terminal for the next several hours, sipping on a cup of instant caf with milk, triple-quadruple-checking the ship’s readouts. As the chronometer crept closer to seven, her stomach tightened. The last few seconds counting down, she opened the program for the tracker and poised her finger over the first command. She’d practiced the process a dozen times, memorized every step. She held her breath.</p>
<p>And the number on the chronometer changed.</p>
<p>Her fingers flew over the keypad, eyes darting to double-check each step as she went. She barely let her breath out the whole time. Finally, she hit the command to finish the sequence and sat back, hands in her lap. A red loading icon cycled on the screen. She drummed her fingers on her lap, heart thumping in her ears. The icon stopped cycling. She leaned in, held her breath…</p>
<p>…and threw her hands up in a rush of victory.</p>
<p><em>Activation successful, </em>the popup on the screen read. <em>Pinging location. </em>And under it, a string of coordinates.</p>
<p><em>Hang in there, Master, </em>she thought, grinning. <em>We’re coming for you. </em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“We’re coming out of hyperspace in five minutes,” Ahsoka briefed her men, four hours after the activation. “And I’ll be honest with you: this isn’t going to be easy. We didn’t plan on storming the base, and we’re on our own. I’ve sent communications to Master Kenobi asking for backup, but he’s tied up pretty badly with one of Grievous’s ships and probably won’t make it out here before the end of the fight. We’re gonna need to make every man feel like ten if we’re gonna pull this off. But if you’re the soldiers I know you are, that part <em>will</em> be easy.”</p>
<p>“Yes, sir!” the clones affirmed.</p>
<p>“Good. Then let’s go – ”</p>
<p>She cut off as the ship slowed. Outside, the blur of the hyperspace tunnel vanished, replaced by motion-streaked stars. Five minutes ahead of schedule. When she faced the viewport, her eyes went wide as saucers, and her heart fell to the pit of her stomach. Master Ti had been able to infer a rough outline of the station’s size and shape from the transmissions it broadcasted. According to her extrapolations, it should have been a small station, maybe the size of a small building, with a roughly cylindrical central drum and four disk-shaped arms. Ahsoka could see that structure when she looked out the viewport.</p>
<p>The problem was, it wasn’t the main station. The four-armed cylinder hung in space, angled with the top facing upward and toward them. Behind it were three rings of graduated sizes, the smallest one large enough to fit the entire armed cylinder through the center with several dozen meters’ clearance on all sides. Behind the three rings was another longer, armless cylinder, and finally, behind them all, was the actual main station: a disk large enough to make even the largest of the structures in front of it look tiny by comparison. As they jolted to a halt, a square mouth opened in the disk and a swarm of fighters dropped out, flying toward them.  </p>
<p>“Okay, correction,” Ahsoka said, facing her men again. “This is <em>really </em>not going to be easy.” She gave them her best Anakin smirk, hoping they hadn’t heard the quiver in her voice. “But we’ve still got it, right?”</p>
<p>“Yes, sir,” they said, without a shadow of doubt.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’ve got my sights on Tony’s beacon,” Ahsoka said into her comm headset, swinging her starfighter up and around the side of the base. “They’re being held in that cylinder behind the rings. Blue Squadron and I are going in after the prisoners. The rest of you, keep doing what you’re doing.”</p>
<p>Behind her and to her sides, the space surrounding the station had erupted into chaos. Blaster fire cut dotted lines into the black in a dozen directions; fighters chased and fishtailed; explosions bloomed orange and red. So far, her men were holding their own. But they’d only been fighting for five minutes.</p>
<p>The other Blue Squadron fighters followed her lead, circling the cylinder.</p>
<p>“There’s no entry point into this thing, Commander,” Blue 3 said over the comm. “Are you sure they’re in there? It might just be a piece of machinery.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka searched the Force again. She was sure of what she felt: Anakin’s presence glowed steadily from inside the featureless cylinder, strong as ever. Surrounding it like a constellation around its largest star were upwards of a dozen smaller but equally familiar presences. “They’re in there,” she said. “I’m sure. Let’s search the ring.”</p>
<p>She had to grit her teeth and make herself circle back around to the nearest ring, which was much more heavily defended than the cylinder and surrounded by a frenzy of battling fighters. But they could only loop the cylinder for so long before they became a sitting target.</p>
<p>“Evasive maneuvers,” she said into her comm. “Don’t engage. Just get to a hangar.” She changed channels to address the other squads. “Change of plans: we’re looping back around. I think there’s something in the ring that unlocks the cylinder. Cover for us!”</p>
<p>She dodged left, then right, then dipped and rolled, eyes darting between her viewscreen and the actual view ahead. Peripheral vision and Force awareness had told her the approximate location of a hangar door, which was a mercy, because she had no time to slow down on her way in.</p>
<p>“And we’re in!” she said as she swung her fighter around and let it drop to the hangar floor. The other Blue Squadron fighters joined her to the left and right as she popped the canopy. In a row behind them were ten other fighters, one of which she recognized as Anakin’s. A good sign, even if the sight of it empty did give her a sharp twinge of worry. She jumped down and gave a split-second look around, then took off toward what looked like a control room. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a squad of B1s bursting into the hangar behind her, blasters raised.</p>
<p>“Hold those droids off!” she said to the rest of her squad. “I’ll unlock the cylinder.”</p>
<p>She dashed the final stretch to the control room, blaster shots whizzing by as the clones and droids exchanged fire. At the threshold, she slid into a somersault, slamming the door shut just behind her with the Force. As she stood and caught her breath, she glanced over the controls.</p>
<p>“Okay, how to unlock the cylinder,” she said to herself, one finger tapping her lip.</p>
<p>The control room was more of a horizontal hallway or staging area, she saw now that she was inside. At the center of the back wall was a circular door, which appeared to lead into a spherical pod. She thought for a moment, then made her best educated guess. As she punched the commands into the keypad, a green rim around the sphere glowed to life, along with similar green lights lining its interior. Its door slid open. She finished executing the command and walked inside. The door shut behind her with a pressurized hiss and the sphere dislodged from the wall, floating out along a straight trajectory into the space at the center of the ring. When it reached the center, four tractor beams shot in from the sides of the ring and beamed it toward the cylinder. Ahsoka let herself enjoy a brief rush of satisfaction that her guess at the sphere’s purpose had been right.</p>
<p>As it engaged with an alcove in the side of the cylinder, the opposite door from the one she’d entered swiveled and twirled, unlocking like a geometric puzzle. A door in the cylinder opened along with it, locked to it from the other side. When the two fused doors opened, she walked out to find herself overlooking a long vertical shaft. The walkway extruded only a meter or so in front of her, a single light illuminating the same distance. To her left was a single small control panel. She looked up to the ceiling of the shaft, then down its seemingly endless depth. The walls were as featureless on the inside as on the outside. No sign of prisoners anywhere. But she felt them in the Force, stronger than ever. They were above her. She gave a closer look to the ceiling and noticed a large circular seam at the center. Then she crossed to the control panel and punched in the only command it had.</p>
<p>As she lifted her finger from the screen, the circle in the ceiling twirled and then extruded downward, a thick transperisteel cylinder descending as the walkway folded out to meet it. Arranged around its central support were a ring of holding pods, each with an unconscious clone trooper sealed inside.  </p>
<p>“So the controls for the sphere were the only thing in that ring, other than the defenses,” she murmured to herself. “And it’s the only way to get in here, and that control pad is the only thing that can create a way out. And any one of those could be destroyed at a moment’s notice, with very little loss to the station. Which means… Fjorkin is <em>really </em>worried about these prisoners getting out.” She shook her head. “Anakin’s gonna get a big head when he sees all this.”</p>
<p>
  <em>Unless it was meant to hold something else. </em>
</p>
<p>That thought touched her like a cold finger on her spine, for a reason she couldn’t quite place. She tucked it away to bring up later, once they were all safe back on the <em>Resolute. </em>For now, she had a job to do.</p>
<p>She ran across the walkway, not slowing until she found the one pod that didn’t have a clone in it. Like the others, her master was sound asleep. On closer inspection, she saw that the pod had a hypodermic arm sticking out of the support, the needle embedded in the side of his neck. She pulled that out first. Then she wrenched the shoulder harness that held him in place up with the Force. His head lolled forward as she did, but she put a hand on his chest to keep him from falling.</p>
<p>“Master,” she urged, shaking him by the shoulders. “Wake up! Come on, wake up, we’re getting you out.”</p>
<p>She almost jumped out of her skin as a rhythmic beeping erupted through the shaft, loud and shrill enough to deafen her. Red light pulsed across the walls in unison with the beeping, and her heart jumped into her throat as she saw that the walkway had begun to fold back in on itself.</p>
<p>“No!” she yelled, and lunged forward in protest, just for a split second.  </p>
<p>The split second was all it took for her to have Anakin’s full dead weight falling against her. A strangled <em>eek! </em>escaped her as she clamored for the edges of the pod, trying to hold him up. No sooner had she gripped the edges than the rim around the holding unit – the rim she was standing on – folded in and the unit began to rise back into the ceiling. She jumped just in time to get her feet onto the edge of the pod, but as she did, Anakin slumped head-first out of her grip. She caught him by one leg on his way down, and only thought better of it a second too late. Her other hand released the pod’s edge, unable to take both their weight, and they free-fell down the shaft.</p>
<p>As the blank walls sped by, she shot a grappling hook up at the control pad. Her breath caught in her throat as the hook held around the base. The line went taught, almost pulling her arm out of socket, and she swung forward and up like a pendulum. Her grip on Anakin’s leg gave, and he was flung even higher than her, as though she’d tossed him into the air. On instinct, she shot out her legs and braced her feet against the opposite side of the shaft from the control panel. A sharp grunt escaped her as Anakin fell across her stomach, his head and arms dangling down on one side and his legs on the other. Now she was suspended, arms above her head, her grappling line crossing the shaft at a diagonal, legs bent and feet pressed against the wall, with him draped across her middle.</p>
<p><em>And how am I supposed to get out of </em>this, <em>exactly? </em>she wondered.</p>
<p>Before she could answer that question, her train of thought was interrupted by a groan from Anakin. He moved his head, causing him to slide further to one side.</p>
<p>“Yeah, don’t do that,” Ahsoka warned.</p>
<p>He held his head and blinked sleepily. “Snips?” he said. “Where are we?”</p>
<p>She laughed half-heartedly. “Trust me, you don’t want to know.”</p>
<p>Anakin moved again, more alert now, seeming to take in his surroundings. Then he slid the rest of the way off and fell head-first, shooting out a grappling hook of his own. As it caught in a seam in the wall, he somersaulted into an upright position, hanging by one arm. Ahsoka pushed off the wall with her feet and swung across, her own line now hanging straight as well. Together, they reeled their lines in, floating steadily up through the shaft.</p>
<p>“Your men are still up there,” Ahsoka said, nodding upward. “There’s a hidden holding unit in the ceiling. They’re being held in stasis pods same as the one I just pulled you out of.”</p>
<p>“So you brought just me for whatever this is?” Anakin said. He faked a misty-eyed expression. “I’m so honored.”</p>
<p>She smirked in spite of herself. “Save it, Skyguy. You know, you really could have gotten yourself killed with this. If I hadn’t bailed you out, who knows what these guys would’ve done to you.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, how long has it been anyway?” He made a face and rubbed the back of his head with his free hand. “Last thing I remember, something exploded.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka winced. “Um… seven days."</p>
<p>“Seven <em>days?</em>” Anakin stared at her, open-mouthed. “Are you serious?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, Fjorkin’s crew must have brought you here while you were knocked out from the explosion and put you in stasis. He was going to do something to you. Experiment on you, or something. I don’t know. He put a ransom out to the Republic, hoping the whole experimentation threat would be enough to make them pay up quick.”</p>
<p>“Well, that plan’s not going to work out for him,” Anakin said. He swung across to the ledge that held the control panel, grunting as he hoisted himself up onto it.</p>
<p>Ahsoka followed, unclipping her grappling hook once she was on steady footing. “I’m not sure that’s going to work,” she said. “It’s in lockdown, and it has the only controls that can access the holding unit.”</p>
<p>“I make my own controls,” Anakin said. A look of intense concentration came over his face as he raised both hands toward the ceiling and pulled them slowly back down toward him. The circle at the center of the ceiling groaned under the strain, then began to lower. The pods holding the eighteen clones reemerged, feet first, then their whole bodies. But the cylinder didn’t stop coming. Above the clones, it revealed a second row of pods, and a third, falling faster the more momentum it gained. “Uh, Snips?” Anakin said, his breathing labored as he tried to keep it steady. “How big is this thing?”</p>
<p>“How am I supposed to know?” Ahsoka shot back.</p>
<p>The cylinder fell in a blur now – five, seven, ten rows rushing out. Anakin staggered forward with his hands on his thighs, puffing and blowing, his Force grip broken. When he straightened, he stared down, mouth hanging open slightly. The cylinder had finally stopped, but it now extended almost the full length of the shaft. It had at least fifteen rows of pods, all of them empty except the lowest.</p>
<p>“Well, that explains why this shaft is so big,” Ahsoka said, trying not to acknowledge how uneasy the size of the holding unit and the number of empty pods made her.</p>
<p>“How many hostages was this guy planning on taking exactly?” Anakin exclaimed.</p>
<p>They both jumped as a resounding metallic thud sounded from the ceiling above them. And as she looked up, Ahsoka saw for the first time that the circle at the center of the ceiling – the one that had just extruded a holding unit with at least two hundred pods – was the smallest of three concentric circles. The second, larger ring of holding cells came down with equal force to the first one, the third not far behind. Ahsoka flinched, covering her ears, as they fell to their full length with two ear-splitting crashes. As her ears stopped ringing, she straightened up and turned to Anakin.</p>
<p>“Do you really <em>have </em>to break everything, Master?” she asked.</p>
<p>“Guy knocks me out for a week, I’m not leaving without making my mark,” Anakin answered. “Now come on. We can deal with the alarmingly huge number of prisoners this thing can hold later. Let’s go get our men.”</p>
<p>They jumped and dropped down the shaft again, this time skidding down the shell of the outermost holding unit. At the bottom, they jumped off and landed on the shaft’s floor. Anakin lifted the outer two units just enough to reveal the bottom row, panting with effort. While he held them, Ahsoka ran around the ring and released each clone one-by-one. A quick nudge in the Force quickly woke them up, though their reflexes and mental functions seemed to lag a little more than Anakin’s had. Grumbling and leaning on each other, they made their way to the edges of the shaft and shot their grappling hooks up. When the last man was out from under the holding units, Anakin released them, and he and Ahsoka followed suit.</p>
<p>Ahsoka was somewhat surprised to see that the tractor beam sphere was still intact when they reached it. The door hissed open when they hit the command too.</p>
<p><em>So most of the fail safes on this thing weren’t even turned on, </em>she thought. More evidence that the holding unit was not meant for them.</p>
<p>The sphere had been much more comfortable a size for one person than for twenty. None of them could move while sealed inside, or even lift their arms from their sides without jabbing someone in the process. The mist from their breath quickly fogged the viewports, and the air felt uncomfortably warm and stuffy.</p>
<p>“There’s a pretty intense fight going on out there,” Ahsoka said, smashed between at least four sweaty clones. “Just thought I should warn you.”</p>
<p>Anakin glanced around, taking in the blaster bolt-spattered view outside the viewports. “How many people did you bring to get us back?”</p>
<p>Ahsoka glanced sideways, biting her bottom lip. “All of them?” she said. “We’re not just rescuing you, though,” she added, more confidently. “We’re storming the base.”</p>
<p>“Storming the…?” Anakin scrunched his eyebrows together. “We don’t have the numbers to pull that off! We were supposed to <em>find out where it is. </em>That’s it.”</p>
<p>“Well, I know, but… the best way to find it was by tracking the carrier here. And the only way to get you out if we did that was to take Fjorkin for all he’s got.” Ahsoka stood taller and puffed her chest out, her elbow bumping the trooper behind her. “It’s what you would have done.” A defensive edge crept into her voice in spite of her. “And I have the backing of Admiral Yularen. He’s on the <em>Resolute, </em>just over there. Holding the line for us against Fjorkin’s fighters.” She motioned to the side viewport.</p>
<p>“You brought the ship?” Anakin shook his head and pressed his fingers to his forehead.</p>
<p>“I did what I thought I had to, to save you!” Ahsoka said. She started at how loud her own voice had come out.</p>
<p>Anakin straightened. “Not now, Ahsoka,” he said. “I’m getting us out of here,” he addressed the clones. “Our prime objective from now on is to get everyone back to the ship. Alive<em>.</em>”</p>
<p>Ahsoka couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “We’re retreating back to the ship?” she asked, distressed.</p>
<p>“That’s our only option,” Anakin said. “I’m not offering up my entire ship to Fjorkin as target practice.”</p>
<p>“That’s not what I was doing!”</p>
<p>“I said not now.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka fell silent, looking at the floor. She realized that her hands had clenched into fists at her sides, and unclenched them.</p>
<p>“If we can find a better course of action, we’re taking it,” Anakin said. “But for now, our only option is to get as many people out as we can. Is that understood?”</p>
<p>“Yes, Master,” Ahsoka said quietly.</p>
<p>The clones nodded. Some glanced awkwardly between Anakin and Ahsoka.</p>
<p>“Yes, sir!” one shiny said with an over-enthusiastic salute, then glanced at his brothers and slowly lowered his hand to his side.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They emerged from the sphere into an intense firefight. Anakin began barking orders at the clones as soon as they were through the door, twirling his lightsaber at lightning speed to deflect the security droids’ incoming shots. Ahsoka fell in behind him, taking a moment to appreciate the fact that her master was back. Then she moved back out to cover his blind spots.</p>
<p>“…jump before they can get a tracker on us,” she heard him saying to the clones. “If we’re lucky, they’ll forget all about us.”</p>
<p>As they fought their way toward the hangar, another squad of clones ran in around the curve of the ring.</p>
<p>“General, one of the droids found a way to detonate a bunch of the machinery throughout the whole station using the controls in this ring,” the sergeant said when they were close enough to be heard.</p>
<p>Anakin faced him. “Enough to take the station out?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know, sir. But enough to set Fjorkin and his crew back quite a bit with whatever they’re doing, at least. Could buy us some time to come back later with reinforcements.”</p>
<p>Anakin pressed his lips together, eyes darting as he assessed the odds. Then he nodded. “Let’s do it. Ahsoka, cover my back.”</p>
<p>She nodded, moving in to cover more of the walkway with her saber. “So do the rest of us still go to the ship, or…?” she asked. But when she glanced over her shoulder, she saw that he was already long gone.</p>
<p>“I’m not sure we can make a retreat, Commander,” a nearby trooper said between shots. “While you were rescuing the captives, Fjorkin deployed a hell of a lot more fighters and got ‘em between us and the ship. There’s pretty much a barrier around the whole station now.”</p>
<p><em>Aaand now I’m in charge again, </em>Ahsoka thought.</p>
<p>She pushed down her frustration and batted off a stream of fire from a droid, glancing to the viewports. The trooper was right. The enemy fighters were flying thickest at the edges of the fight, blasters shooting inward. A smart move, and a difficult one to counter.</p>
<p><em>We never should have let them get out there, </em>she thought. If they’d had enough fighters to surround the station, it wouldn’t have happened. But she wasn’t going to stop and think about that now.</p>
<p>“If we can’t get to the ship, we’ll have the ship come to us,” she said. “Those fighters are small. They can’t hold back a destroyer. I’ll comm Admiral Yularen and have him bring the <em>Resolute </em>in as close as he can. Ram right through them and provide us some cover while we fly out to meet him.”</p>
<p>“Good plan, Commander,” said the trooper. “I’ll alert the others.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka nodded. “Someone cover for me! I need to comm Admiral Yularen.”</p>
<p>As two troopers moved in to defend against the droids, she ducked against the wall. “Admiral,” she said into her comm, “I need you to bring the ship in as close to the station as you can. There’s no way we’re getting back to you through those fighters. But I think you can blast your way through them. You think you can make it to us?”</p>
<p>“I can, but it will be risky,” Yularen said from the other end. “Destroyers have been taken down by fewer fighters than this, and once they see me coming in, they’ll give me their full attention. I won’t be able to hold the line for long.”</p>
<p>“You won’t have to,” Ahsoka said. “Just long enough for us to join you. We’ll be ready and waiting.”</p>
<p>“As you wish.” Yularen still sounded less than convinced. “Let me guess,” he added drily. “This was Skywalker’s plan?”</p>
<p>“No,” Ahsoka said, with more of a proud edge in her voice than she’d intended. “Mine, actually.”</p>
<p>Somehow, she sensed Yularen’s amusement, even through the speaker. “Well, I’ll be seeing you shortly,” he said, and signed off.</p>
<p>Ahsoka rolled into a flip, rejoining the fight. “He’s coming!” she told the clones over her comm. “All units get to the hangars, and be ready to move fast. Fighters, move to the third ring.”</p>
<p>She kept fighting, staking out a position close to her fighter and holding it as best she could. Anakin’s and most of the others were gone now, taken back out into the fight. Outside the viewports, the gray and red spearhead of the <em>Resolute </em>loomed larger with diminishing distance. From its cannons, dotted lines of fire cut through the swarm of enemy fighters. Soon, the ship’s prow swallowed most of the view from the ring, angling down toward the ring as though to extend a hand to a drowning man in water. Just as Yularen had predicted, Fjorkin’s fighters concentrated their fire on the ship, ganging up in groups to blast it from all sides.</p>
<p>“I’m in as far as I can get, Commander Tano,” Admiral Yularen said over Ahsoka’s comm. “I hope you’re ready. You don’t have long.”</p>
<p>“We’ll make every second count,” she said, darting the final distance to her fighter. “Everyone get to the ship, and stick together. We’re going to need to stick in tight formation if we’re going to make it through that without getting picked off. Fighters, do you copy?”</p>
<p>“Roger that, Commander,” Red Leader commed from outside. “We’re all here.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka glanced outside then squinted, scowling at what she saw. “All of you?” she asked. “We had a lot more than that.”</p>
<p>“This is all of us that are still circling the ring,” Red Leader replied. “The rest are off helping the General.”</p>
<p>“The rest are what?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, they’re blowing up the station terminals, didn’t you hear?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but they were….” Ahsoka glanced between the viewport and her fighter, then huffed out her breath. “Give me a second.”</p>
<p>“Alright, but don’t make it a long one. It’s an enemy fighter inferno out here.”</p>
<p><em>Anakin, you did </em>not <em>steal half of my fighters for your explosions, </em>Ahsoka fumed. “Cover for me!” she said to the nearest troopers, and punched her comm, dialing Anakin.</p>
<p>“Ahsoka, is everything alright?” his voice crackled from the other end.</p>
<p>“It’s not going to be if you don’t get back here!” she said. “You took too many of the fighters. We can’t get back to the ship now. Fjorkin’s fighters will just pick us off if we leave the hangars. And Admiral Yularen is taking heavy fire waiting for us to come join him.”</p>
<p>“Taking heavy fire? Way out there? Did Fjorkin’s fighters start attacking him?” Anakin’s tone was incredulous.</p>
<p>“No, he brought the ship in closer to cover for us. And now he’s getting blasted, hard.” Urgency bled into her voice as she watched a new crop of explosions break out across the <em>Resolute’s </em>prow. “You need to get back here, now,” she pleaded. “You should’ve… where were you when I was explaining the plan? I pinged everyone!”</p>
<p> “You don’t give me orders,” Anakin said, an edge in his voice.</p>
<p>“You left me in charge!”</p>
<p>“No, I told you to cover for me.”</p>
<p>“You told me to get everyone to the ship!”</p>
<p>“I said if I found a better course of action, we were taking it. Blowing up the terminals was a better course of action. I would’ve thought that was obvious.”</p>
<p>“No, Master,” Ahsoka said, her voice trembling. “It <em>wasn’t </em>obvious. And now Admiral Yularen is trapped, and you’re trapped, and I can’t get to either of you, and we’re all going to…. to <em>die, </em>and….”</p>
<p>“<em>Ahsoka,</em>” Anakin scolded.</p>
<p>She fell silent.</p>
<p>“Calm. Down. No one is going to die. I’ve got this under control, and so do you.”</p>
<p>“But what do I <em>do? </em>Everything I’ve done so far has been wrong!”</p>
<p>“Trust your instincts. Remember what I’ve taught you.”</p>
<p>“But you haven’t….” she started. <em>You haven’t taught me anything about this, </em>she finished in her head.</p>
<p>“Our men will follow your lead. Lean on them. I can’t keep talking, but I’ll see you – ” His voice cut out, drowned out by sounds of blaster fire. She heard him shouting orders that she couldn’t make out, and the link shut down.</p>
<p>“Master?” she said, pounding the button on her comm to reactivate it. “Master! Don’t leave me by myself again. Please….” But it was no use.</p>
<p>A clone trooper stumbled beside her, bracing himself against the side of her fighter as he unloaded a stream of blaster fire into a couple of droids. “What do we do, Commander?” he asked.</p>
<p>Ahsoka looked down at her hands, her chest tight. “I… don’t know,” she said. She fought down the lump in her throat, resisted the urge to curl up into a ball. Then she squared her shoulders. “But I’ll figure it out,” she said. “Just keep fighting.” She activated her lightsaber again and dashed back out into the fight.</p>
<p>As she darted side to side, deflecting the droids’ shots, she racked her brain, trying to think of a way out. There had to be something. A way for her to reach Anakin and combine their forces, a way for Admiral Yularen to help them… But she couldn’t think of anything. All three groups were stranded, cut off from each other, cut off from retreating. Each hit the ship took outside the viewports was another tick in the countdown, another reminder that her time was running out. And still, Anakin was silent. Her insides knotted tighter with each passing second, hopelessness rising inside her.</p>
<p><em>We’re not making it out. </em>The thought pressed at the back of her mind, with every beat of her pulse. <em>We’re not going to get out of this. </em></p>
<p>Outside, red fire blossomed across the <em>Resolute, </em>a chain reaction of explosions shocking through it like firecrackers on a string. From the other side of the ring, another squadron of droids rushed in. Ahsoka glanced at the floor, as good as giving herself up for lost.</p>
<p>And when she looked back up, a second star destroyer was shooting out of hyperspace to join the <em>Resolute. </em>No, three star destroyers. She recognized the nearest one as the <em>Negotiator, </em>and her heart soared.</p>
<p>“General Skywalker,” the voice of Master Obi-Wan cut through her comm speakers, clear and strong. “This is Obi-Wan Kenobi. I’ve come to offer aid. Come in, Skywalker. Do you copy?”</p>
<p>Ahsoka keyed in, fighting down tears of relief. “Master Kenobi,” she said. “We’re here! Can you send fighters to help us break their lines? We’re in ring nearest you. Oh, and we have another squad trapped in the largest ring as well.”</p>
<p>“Ahsoka?” Obi-Wan’s voice was surprised, concerned. “Where is Anakin?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” she said, truthfully. “He hasn’t been responding to me either.”</p>
<p>She heard Obi-Wan sigh on the other end. “Well, I’m getting you out of here, Anakin or no Anakin, so I hope for his sake that he decides to show up soon. Cody is deploying fighters to escort both your squads to my ship, and we’re flanking the <em>Resolute </em>to offer support. We’ll get her out first, so she doesn’t take any more damage. I’ve got room to dock your fighters. Can you make it to us?”</p>
<p>“Yes,” Ahsoka said, brimming with newfound resolve. “We can.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Anakin’s group was among the last to join the fleet. The <em>Resolute </em>was already long gone by then, jumped off to Republic territory for repairs. Obi-Wan’s ships were still hanging around, collecting the last of the fighters. As the final flock of fighters lifted off from the foremost ring, a series of explosions traveled around the ring, yellow-hot against its blue lights. The other two rings followed not far behind.</p>
<p>Ahsoka stood in the hangar of the <em>Negotiator </em>beside Obi-Wan, watching the fighters arc toward them. “Took you long enough,” she muttered. The tightness in her chest returned a little as she tried to find Anakin’s presence, to get an indicator as to whether or not he was okay, even though she knew he was too far away to feel.</p>
<p>Her nervousness quickly proved unfounded. Her master’s presence flared into her awareness as the fighters closed the distance between them, and it was just as strong as always. The hangar doors folded shut as the fighters dropped in. Anakin popped the canopy on his without a second’s delay and jumped out, looking none the worse for wear. He jogged part of the way to Obi-Wan and Ahsoka, then slowed as he neared them and flashed Ahsoka a smirk.</p>
<p>“See, I told you my plan would work,” he said. “Just took a few more steps than we thought it would.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The mess hall of the <em>Negotiator </em>was a lively place the day after the station battle. Anakin’s troops mingled with Obi-Wan’s at the tables, talking, laughing, exchanging friendly punches between bites of food and drinks of caf. Anakin made for a table in the corner, away from the others. The brief look he’d taken at the data retrieved from Fjorkin’s station had only raised more questions than it had answered, and the files in his datapad called to him from the locked screen. He set the datapad on the table face-up, next to his tray, and sat with his back against the wall, swinging his legs up onto the bench across from him. He unlocked the screen before even taking a bite, only starting on his lunch once the list of files was open.</p>
<p>Most of the data on the screen told him very little at first glance. Obviously, the station had been set up for some type of experimentation involving a large number of captive subjects. Ahsoka had said as much when she first pulled him out of the stasis pod. What type of experimentation was anyone’s guess.</p>
<p>The information on himself and the other captives was in one of the files, he noticed. He gave it a cursory look, just to make sure it didn’t contain anything that would require more attention later. Most of it wasn’t worth lingering on: vital signs, age and weight, evidence of past injuries. A series of readings and indicators that didn’t mean anything to him, but probably would to a medical droid. He noted the entry under ‘miscellaneous comments’ for CT-1750 that mentioned his earring. The corners of his mouth went up when he read that.</p>
<p><em>Clever Ahsoka, </em>he thought.</p>
<p>He scanned the nineteen entries one last time, then closed out of the list to move onto the next set of files. But as the home screen on the datapad loaded, a familiar presence drew his attention. When he glanced up, Obi-Wan stood across the table from him. His presence gave off a distinct ‘don’t mess with me when I’m in this mood’ vibe. Anakin swung his legs down from the other bench and sat up straight.</p>
<p>“Obi-Wan,” he said. “What brings you here?”</p>
<p>Obi-Wan set down his tray and sat down on the bench. “We need to talk,” he said.</p>
<p>Republic General though he was, Anakin felt an acute twinge of fear. He racked his brain, trying to think what offense he’d committed recently. “About what?” he asked, trying his best not to wince.</p>
<p>“About your Padawan.”</p>
<p>That brought a small rush of relief. No need to worry where Ahsoka was concerned – she probably gave the 501<sup>st</sup> a better name than he did. “Oh, I know, she’s great, isn’t she?” he said, with more enthusiasm than was probably necessary. “You know, now that I think of it, I haven’t seen her since this morning. Where is she?” He turned his head, glancing around the mess hall.</p>
<p>“She told me about the whole storming-the-station disaster yesterday while we were waiting for you to come join us on the ship,” Obi-Wan said drily.</p>
<p>“Oh, yeah, that.” Anakin laughed. “We had it under control. I mean, I appreciate you coming to help, but we were fine. Really.”</p>
<p>Obi-Wan raised one eyebrow. “It would have been nice if you’d told Ahsoka that. I believe she was under the impression that she’d led all of you to your deaths.”</p>
<p>Anakin felt a surprised twinge. <em>Did she really think that?</em> “You know how dramatic teenagers can be,” he said, a little uncertainly. “She got overwhelmed and got a little emotional for a minute. We’ve all been there. I knew she’d pull through.”</p>
<p>“She was outmatched and trapped, and trying to formulate a plan with <em>no </em>instructions, unless I’m mistaken, and abandoned by her Master, while also knowing his life and the lives of all her troops depended on her. That is not a position any Padawan should ever be in, wartime or no. A… a little emotional?” Obi-Wan sputtered, shaking his head. “Do you <em>know</em> how you would have reacted at fourteen if I’d done that to you?” </p>
<p>Anakin cocked his head, rolled his eyes just slightly. “I’m pretty sure I would have been fine.”</p>
<p>“Is that so? Because I seem to recall quite a different reaction when I was injured on Tarfa. When you were <em>sixteen.</em>”</p>
<p>“That was different,” Anakin said, fully on the defensive now. “I thought I was gonna have to watch you die. Ahsoka knew I was fine. I just wasn’t with her.”</p>
<p>“All she knew was that you were under attack and outnumbered, and that you had abruptly stopped responding to her. I don’t think anyone would have assumed you were fine in that scenario.”</p>
<p>Anakin sighed. “Look.” He paused. “I was coming to get her. I wasn’t with the last group of fighters when they blew the terminals. I looped back around to cover their retreat because I saw that Ahsoka was safe on your ship, but I was halfway to her position when you arrived. I didn’t tell her I was coming because I didn’t want her to panic. I had to be tough on her because if I’d cracked, she would’ve been all that much more afraid. I wanted her to think we had it under control.”</p>
<p>Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow again. “You told me you did have it under control.”</p>
<p>“I did! But I… I questioned that, for a few minutes, okay? I questioned it. And I didn’t want Ahsoka to know that.”</p>
<p>Obi-Wan sighed and shook his head. “You know, none of this is making me feel any better about the situation,” he said. “None of it changes the fact that what happened yesterday should not have happened, no matter the circumstances, and the fact that you’re trying to justify it is honestly disturbing.”</p>
<p>“Okay.” Anakin threw his hands up. “Okay. The storming the station thing shouldn’t have happened. But we’re all okay, and we got some valuable information. That sleemo is planning something big, and I’m karking glad we discovered it now rather than later, even if that <em>wasn’t </em>part of the initial plan.”</p>
<p>“You do realize this is about your Padawan and not about your battle strategy, right?” Obi-Wan asked, with an edge in his voice.</p>
<p>“Yeah, we covered her. You told me she was scared, I told you she was fine. Trust me, I know Ahsoka. She’s fine. She’s a lot tougher than you’re giving her credit for.”</p>
<p>“It’s not the fact that she was scared that concerns me, Anakin. It’s the fact that she was left to command your troops by herself, with no direction from you. Then when she saved you in the only way she could think of, you criticized her and made her feel responsible for things going badly. Then you changed the plan on her without telling her and abandoned her with no directions again. And then you waltzed out of the whole situation and <em>took credit for her plan.</em>”</p>
<p>“Took credit for… oh, come <em>on, </em>Obi-Wan. That was clearly a joke.”</p>
<p>“Was it?”</p>
<p>“Yes! It was.”</p>
<p>“Was it clear to Ahsoka?”</p>
<p>Anakin rolled his eyes. “<em>Yes.</em> I should hope she knows me well enough by now to know when I’m kidding around.”</p>
<p>“That’s just the thing though, isn’t it? You’re always kidding around. Did you ever even thank her for saving you?”</p>
<p>“She knows I appreciate her.”</p>
<p>“Are you sure?”</p>
<p>“Yes!”</p>
<p>“You’ve asked her?”</p>
<p>“No. But only because that’s not something you ask your Padawan. She knows.”</p>
<p>“You <em>think </em>she knows. I know how you work, Anakin. You think that everyone can read your mind, and that everyone thinks exactly like you do.” Obi-Wan raised his voice, tapping the table for emphasis. “Ahsoka is not you.”</p>
<p>“I don’t want her to be me!”</p>
<p>“Then maybe ask her how <em>she </em>feels about things once in a while!”</p>
<p>“Oh, so this is a thing masters are supposed to do now?” Anakin shot back. “Ask about <em>feelings?</em> Did you ever ask me if I <em>felt appreciated</em> when I was your Padawan? I’ll answer that for you. No, you didn’t. If you had, I would remember it, because <em>that’s a weird thing to ask.</em>”</p>
<p>Obi-Wan folded his arms and shook his head. “This is no use,” he said. “You’re doing exactly what you always do.”</p>
<p>“And what’s that, huh? Please, enlighten me, Master. What do I <em>always</em> do?”</p>
<p>“Make it all about you,” Obi-Wan answered with a sigh.</p>
<p>“Well, you come in here throwing accusations at me, I’m not sure who else it’s supposed to be about.”</p>
<p>“It’s about Ahsoka!” Obi-Wan exploded. “I’ve told you that, at least three times already. And the fact that you <em>still </em>don’t understand that is making me fear that this is much worse than I thought.”</p>
<p>“What’s much worse than you thought?”</p>
<p>“Your mentorship. I haven’t babysat you since the war started. I didn’t think I had to. But now, I’m not so sure. Is this always what happens? Do you ever actually <em>teach </em>her how to do anything, or do you just throw her into the deep end and then criticize her every time she makes a mistake?”</p>
<p>“I teach her plenty of things and you know it.”</p>
<p>“Are you sure? Because after what I’ve just witnessed, I find it much more plausible that you just give her a task she’s never done before, then stand back, fold your arms, and say ‘figure it out for yourself!’” <strong>*</strong></p>
<p>“I do not – You know what? I’m not having this conversation with you.” Anakin stood, with every intention of walking off. But the sudden urge to say more kept him in place. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth, then shut it again, his jaw clenched. “If you think I don’t care about her…,” he said, and swallowed the rest of the sentence. “If you think that I’m not doing everything I do to make her better, because I care about her, then don’t even talk to me. I am not playing games with her safety, and I don’t view her as just some… some <em>trophy</em> to make myself look good. If that’s what you think this is, then you don’t know me at all. Ahsoka means everything to me. I’d jump in front of a rogue train for her. I wouldn’t even hesitate.”  </p>
<p>“I know that, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said wearily. “I’ve never questioned that, and I’m not questioning it now. The thing is, rogue trains don’t come along all that often. What you do when there <em>isn’t </em>a rogue train to jump in front of for someone is a bit more important.”</p>
<p>Anakin looked at him for a moment, some of the rigidness going out of his shoulders. “Yeah, well….” He glanced at the floor then back up. “I’ve got work to do. Good talk.” The ‘good talk’ came out with even more bite in it than he’d intended, but he made no attempt to soften it. He gave a short nod, turned, and strode away.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was mid-afternoon when he next saw Ahsoka. Or, rather, it was mid-afternoon by the time he finally mustered the initiative to start the conversation he wanted to have with her. She was in one of the common areas, playing a game of dejarik against Rex.</p>
<p>“Ahsoka,” Anakin said. “Captain.” He nodded to each of them and lingered near the door, leaning on the wall.</p>
<p>The game on the board looked like an intense one, with only one piece left for each player. Both players were sipping on cups of fizzpop, Ahsoka sitting cross-legged on her seat, Rex leaning his chin on one hand in concentration. At last, Rex’s piece fizzled out.</p>
<p>“And the ng’ok is dead!” Ahsoka sang out. “Accept your defeat, Captain Rex.”</p>
<p>Rex raised his hands. “Defeat accepted,” he said.</p>
<p>“Wanna go again?” Ahsoka asked.</p>
<p>Rex drained the last of his pop and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Nah, I’d best be going,” he said. He stretched and stood. “Next game’s yours if you want it, General. Although, I’ve gotta warn you.” His brown eyes twinkled. “She’s getting tough to beat these days.”</p>
<p>“I think I can hold my own,” Anakin responded. He slid into the empty seat as Rex headed out.</p>
<p>“So, which pieces are you picking?” Ahsoka asked. She shifted her weight and took a swig of her pop. “You usually go for the heavy attackers, right?”</p>
<p>Anakin paged through the creature options on his side of the board. “Usually. But I do mix it up from time to time. Gotta keep my opponent guessing.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka smiled, but didn’t look up from her own creature selection. A few seconds later, both of their lineups displayed over the board. When she saw his mantellian savrip, monnok, ng’ok, and k’lor’slug, she blew out a laugh.</p>
<p>“Four heavy attackers,” she said. “So much for keeping your opponent guessing.”</p>
<p>Anakin shrugged. “Force of habit, I guess,” he admitted. He hit the start button and extended his hand to Ahsoka. “Ladies first.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka leaned forward, her game face on, and moved her ghhhk in to attack his savrip. He used his first turn for a counterattack. They made their next few moves in silence, her concentrating, him stalling. But on the fifth or sixth turn, she cocked her head and made a sly expression.</p>
<p>“So is everything okay between you and Master Kenobi?” she asked. </p>
<p>Anakin scrunched his eyebrows together, caught off-guard. “What… yeah, everything is fine. Why wouldn’t it be?”</p>
<p>“You were getting into it pretty good over lunch,” Ahsoka said, the ghost of a smirk on her lips.</p>
<p>“You weren’t there for that.”</p>
<p>She shrugged. “News travels fast among the troops. Especially news like two Generals hashing it out in the mess hall.”</p>
<p>“We weren’t… it was a civil disagreement. That’s all. You’re making it sound way more dramatic than it was.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka didn’t look at all convinced. “A civil disagreement over what?” she asked. Anakin could hear the quotation marks she put around ‘civil disagreement.’</p>
<p>“Well… ah….” There was no point in trying to think of a good way to put it. He wasn’t going to, that much was clear by now. “It was about you, actually,” he stated, point-blank.</p>
<p>Ahsoka’s smirk vanished, her eyebrow markings drawing together. “About me?”</p>
<p>“Yeah.” He sighed, glanced up at the ceiling. “Obi-Wan thinks I’m a terrible master, apparently.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka glanced sideways, making her next move on the board. “I’m sure he doesn’t feel that way, Master,” she said hesitantly. </p>
<p>“No, he does, actually. He told me so. Said my mentorship is… disturbing, I think was the exact word he used. So… yeah.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka looked at the table, blank-faced.</p>
<p><em>What the heck is wrong with you, Skywalker? </em>Anakin thought, wanting to punch himself. All that time and effort trying to think of the right way to start the conversation, and he’d gone and started it in probably the worst way humanly possible. He sat up straighter, moved his piece on the board.</p>
<p>“But that’s… not important,” he said, trying for his usual light tone. “That’s… ah… that’s between me and Obi-Wan. We’ll work it out. Probably shouldn’t have… probably shouldn’t have even told you that.” He pursed his lips, glanced away from her face.</p>
<p>Ahsoka made her next move and sat waiting. Anakin stared at the board for some time, not thinking about his move. Finally, he glanced down at his lap, then looked her in the eyes.  </p>
<p>“I was coming back for you yesterday,” he said.</p>
<p>Ahsoka cocked her head, confused. “Coming back for me? When?”</p>
<p>“When you were trapped in the ring and couldn’t get the fighters to Admiral Yularen. I left my men to finish blowing the terminals as soon as I got your message. I only turned back around once I saw that you were safe with Obi-Wan.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t need you to come back for me,” Ahsoka said. “That’s nice of you, but I was okay.” She smiled, then nodded toward the board. “You gonna make your move, or…?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, actually, can we… can we pause this for a second?” Anakin pressed the pause button, freezing their creatures in place, and looked her in the eyes again, determined to hold eye contact until he was finished. “I shouldn’t have left you yesterday,” he said. “No, scratch that. I shouldn’t have left you a week ago. As your master, it’s my job to stay with you and make sure you’re okay. I… I failed at that.”</p>
<p>He still felt like a fraud saying it when he started. He was just repeating back what Obi-Wan had said earlier; he’d never thought any of it before their conversation, and still he wasn’t sure he completely understood what he’d done so wrong. But somehow that had changed by the time he’d finished speaking. By the time he finished, he meant it, if only because he wanted to be the master Ahsoka deserved. He wanted that to his very core. And if that meant accepting that he’d done something wrong, even though <em>he </em>thought his strategy still held water just fine, well, then he wanted that too.</p>
<p>Ahsoka was silent for a few seconds. Then she smirked. “Well, lucky for you, you have a Padawan that can handle your unconventional teaching,” she said. “Really, do you think the Council would have given me to you if they didn’t think I could handle it?”</p>
<p>He made a noncommittal sound. “There’s a <em>really </em>good chance they had no idea what they were getting you into.”</p>
<p>She smiled, almost laughed. “Come on.” She took a drink from her cup. “You make it sound like something really bad happened to me yesterday. I successfully tracked the carrier to the secret base, fought my way to you, <em>and</em> dragged you out of a stasis pod and prevented you from falling to your death. I can handle myself.” </p>
<p><em>And we’re back on track, </em>he thought, relaxing a little. He wasn’t sure he understood what he’d done right just now to get them back on track any more than he understood what he’d done wrong yesterday, but he was glad he had done it right, at any rate.</p>
<p>“Yeah, your plan to track the carrier was… impressive,” he said. He raised his eyebrows. “Really impressive. The remote-controlled tracker and transmissions with the date and time, especially.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka glanced down at the table, her smile turning bashful. “I just did what you would have done,” she said.</p>
<p>“I don’t think I could have made that up,” Anakin said, honestly.</p>
<p>Now it was Ahsoka’s turn to raise her eyebrows. “Really?” she said. “Is that <em>humility? </em>Coming from you? I’m impressed.”</p>
<p>He blew out a laugh. “Rightfully so,” he said.</p>
<p>Ahsoka shook her head.</p>
<p>“So… we’re okay, then?” he asked hesitantly.</p>
<p>She made a face, as though the answer should have been obvious. “Yeah. We’re fine. It was no big deal, really.” She cocked her head and smiled at him. “Now can you stop trying to make it one and get back to our game? My ghhhk’s life is hanging in the balance here. Not that there’s any chance it’ll make it through your turn alive.”</p>
<p>“You don’t know that. I could go for the ng’ok instead.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but you wouldn’t do that.”</p>
<p>He gave her a sly look and hesitated for a few seconds, drawing out the suspense. Then he punched the resume button. “Yeah, let’s just get it out of its misery already,” he said, and finished off the ghhhk with his attack.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Late that evening, Anakin dropped in to check on the techs and see how their investigation of the station data was going. He found them in the middle of sinking into a black hole of dead-end leads. They’d been at it for most of the afternoon, they told him, and every lead they followed opened up twenty more.</p>
<p>Fjorkin himself was practically a ghost: he had only become a Separatist General in the past couple of months, nothing was known about his life before that, and his only known affiliate outside of the Separatists was his wife, who was just as much of an unknown as he was. His experiments at the station were equally opaque. Even the numbers and levels he’d recorded on the prisoners meant nothing that they could decipher. They told Anakin they were close to a breakthrough, that they’d find something any minute, so he stuck around to see. Before he knew it, it was close to midnight and he was still there, leaning over a tech’s shoulder to look at his terminal screen.</p>
<p>“So that’s a ‘no’ too, then,” he said as the latest computations cascaded onto the screen.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I’m not sure there even <em>is </em>a pattern here, at this point,” the tech said.</p>
<p>“But what would he be measuring without a pattern? He took these same measurements on every prisoner he’s captured, and every prisoner was given one of these same four letters.” He pointed to the screen, indicating the list of letters. “There has to be some correlation. <em>Some </em>rhyme or reason to it.”</p>
<p>The tech sighed. “You’d think so. But we obviously don’t know the algorithm. Everything I’ve tried is a dead end.”</p>
<p>“Gah. Everything we <em>have</em> on this guy is a dead end.” Anakin rubbed his forehead, then straightened up, one hand on his hip. “He’s like a mirage.”</p>
<p>The clone tech nodded. “Now the only question is, is he a mirage that poses enough of a threat to warrant more investigation? Or do we just leave well enough alone?”</p>
<p>Anakin shook his head. “Honestly, I don’t know.”</p>
<p>Before he could say more, Obi-Wan walked into the room from behind him, just visible at the corner of his vision. “Anakin,” he said. “A word?”</p>
<p>Anakin turned to face him, one eyebrow raised. “You’re up late,” he said.</p>
<p>“I just spoke with the Council,” Obi-Wan said. His tone seemed to indicate that bad news was coming.  </p>
<p>“And?”</p>
<p>Obi-Wan glanced around the room. “You want to step into the hall?” he asked, in a way that wasn’t really asking.</p>
<p>Anakin bristled inwardly, even though a part of him knew he had no good reason to. But their conversation that afternoon was still a little too fresh in his mind, and he didn’t feel like being reasonable. “You can tell me here,” he said, with a slight challenge in his voice. “These are my men. They’re trustworthy.” He was a Jedi Knight and a Republic General, same as Obi-Wan was. He wasn’t going to be walked into the hall for a talking to like a Padawan. If Obi-Wan wanted to talk, they were doing it on his terms.</p>
<p>Obi-Wan let out a short sigh and rolled his eyes. “It’s about Ahsoka,” he said. Then he paused, and the irritation left his face. “They’re… talking about transferring her to a more experienced master.”</p>
<p>And just like that, all of Anakin’s indignation evaporated. He froze in place, arms hanging at his sides, feeling like the floor had just dropped out from under him. For a moment, he stood with his mouth open. Then he closed it. “They’re… they’re what?” he stammered. “They can’t do that.”</p>
<p>There was no superiority in Obi-Wan’s expression, at least. He’d give him that much. “I’m sorry to break it to you, but yes, they most certainly can,” he said. “The final decision will be Ahsoka’s, but if she agrees that she wants a transfer, they can, and they will do it. They’re going to ask her tomorrow.”</p>
<p>“Tomorrow,” Anakin mouthed. For a long moment, he stood where he was, blank-faced, looking at the floor.</p>
<p>“Are you alright?” Obi-Wan prodded at last, a little stiffly.</p>
<p>Anakin shook his head, the fire flaring to life inside him again. “What do you think?” he snapped. “No, I’m not alright. They’re going to take my Padawan away from me, and they weren’t even going to tell me?”</p>
<p>“They were going to tell you. I thought you should hear it from me first.”</p>
<p>“You weren’t even supposed to be involved in any of this,” Anakin exploded. His hands clenched into fists at his sides as he turned away from Obi-Wan. “You came here to provide backup, not to take over the whole operation. This is <em>my </em>mission. Ahsoka is <em>my </em>Padawan. Not yours. You’re. Backup.” He turned back to face him and pointed with each word.</p>
<p>“I saved all of your hides!” Obi-Wan shot back, throwing his hands up. “Which, I might add, was only necessary because <em>your </em>leadership skills are so sorely lacking.”</p>
<p>“You want to criticize my leadership, maybe you should – ” Anakin began, and then cut off as it hit him. He clamped his mouth shut, fuming. “It was <em>you, </em>wasn’t it?” he asked. “<em>You </em>were the one who told them Ahsoka needed a new master. Weren’t you?”  </p>
<p>“I explained the situation with the space station fight,” Obi-Wan said. “They drew their own conclusions.”</p>
<p>“Oh, but you made me sound terrible, didn’t you? You made me sound like I couldn’t be trusted.”</p>
<p>“You did that for yourself! No one in their right mind would say that mission went well. I had to offer some explanation for why we’re in this mess. Would you rather I’d placed the blame on Ahsoka?” Obi-Wan raised one eyebrow, looked him directly in the eyes.</p>
<p>“I….” Anakin huffed out his breath, deflating a little. “No. Of course not.” He paused and rubbed his forehead. “I should’ve been the one explaining it to them,” he said, some of the venom gone out of his voice. “I wish you’d told me we were making a report.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t know I was,” Obi-Wan said. “They called unexpectedly.” He looked Anakin in the eyes again, and this time there was no accusation there. “I don’t like this any more than you do,” he said. “I tried to talk them out of it. But you need to promise me that you’ll be alright, for Ahsoka’s sake. That you won’t make this any more difficult than it has to be. If she chooses to be transferred tomorrow, you must not be selfish. You have to think of what’s best for her, even if it’s not what’s best for yourself. You’re the master here, and now, more than ever, you must step up and act the part. Can I trust you to do that?”</p>
<p> Anakin glanced sideways, took a deep breath. It did nothing to lift the weight from his chest. “I suppose you’d know a lot about that,” he said listlessly. “But… yeah. You can trust me. I’ll do it right, for once.” He gave Obi-Wan a short, closed-mouth smile that he didn’t feel, then turned and left.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>* Credit to Judge1964 for this line</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Anakin wasn’t there when they posed the question to Ahsoka. Rightfully so – it was a hard enough decision without him looking over her shoulder. But still, he did wonder what she was thinking. She avoided him the rest of that day, he noticed. Or maybe he avoided her, keeping occupied with the techs. It was hard to say.</p>
<p>Either way, the data and the leads and the mysteries had ceased to hold his interest. His thoughts kept going back to her, no matter where else he tried to take them. He found himself wondering what he would have done had the Council given him the option of transferring out from under Obi-Wan’s mentorship when he was her age. He wouldn’t have considered it for even a second. Would have probably been angry that they’d even asked. Or maybe he would’ve jumped at the opportunity without a second’s hesitation, sure that his <em>new </em>master would appreciate his talents the way he deserved. </p>
<p>Yeah, that was probably more accurate. </p>
<p>But then, he also remembered crying to Obi-Wan after a failed mission, hating every second of weakness but also knowing that it would never be used against him. He remembered Obi-Wan’s presence grounding him when he was overwhelmed. Remembered being angry and lashing out and running away, and then coming back and finding Obi-Wan exactly the same as he always was, like nothing had ever happened.</p>
<p>By contrast, he got, ‘it’s not a big deal, please stop making it one and get on with the game.’</p>
<p>Actually, when he thought of it now, that whole conversation over the dejarik game took on a different tone than it had at the time. Then, he’d felt so assured that he’d been worried over nothing. Now, he felt more convinced than ever that he was doing every single thing wrong.</p>
<p><em>Maybe she does need a different master, </em>he thought, lying awake in his bed late that night.</p>
<p>She needed an Obi-Wan. Someone stable, someone who always knew just what she needed. She deserved a master like that. Maybe she’d get it, when morning came. Maybe she’d be transferred to Obi-Wan. He couldn’t even be upset about that. They could trade Obi-Wan stories and laugh behind his back, and he’d get to be the fun younger Jedi who could drop in from time to time and kidnap her to do things her master wouldn’t approve of.</p>
<p>But then he had to think about her leaving. About being on his ship and briefing the clones and going on missions and her <em>not being there. </em>And then his chest tightened into a knot and he wondered how he was even going to do any of it without her.</p>
<p>At three in the morning, he finally decided sleep was a lost cause. He got up and put his armor on, then got a cup of instant caf from the empty common area and found his way to a computer terminal. As long as he was awake anyway, he might as well be working.</p>
<p>For the next hour, he sifted through the data again, trying to focus on information that might give them an idea of where to strike next. Usually, he didn’t notice noise or quiet while he was working on plans, but today he did. It was way too quiet. He closed the sixth or seventh file, then leaned back, hands on his forehead, and blew out a long sigh. When he felt Ahsoka’s presence at the door behind him, he sat back up, pushing his hands back through his hair.  </p>
<p>“Do you ever sleep?” Ahsoka asked.</p>
<p>“What?” he said, on instinct.</p>
<p>“Sleep. It’s like being knocked unconscious, but better for you.” <strong>*</strong></p>
<p>He had to laugh at that. “Come on.” He looked at his terminal screen again. “You’ve seen me sleep at least once.”</p>
<p>He didn’t see her smile, but he knew it was there. She crossed to the terminal next to him and sat down with her elbows resting on the desk. For a moment, they both were silent.  </p>
<p>“You know, I get it now,” she said at last.</p>
<p>Anakin cocked his head. “Get what?”</p>
<p>“Why you don’t sleep.” She fiddled with one of her armbands. “You’re always planning everything out, trying to make sure everything is just right. Making sure that… that everyone is taken care of.” She tilted her head thoughtfully. “I mean, I knew you did that. But I guess I didn’t realize how hard it was.”</p>
<p>He made a noncommittal sound. “You’re probably giving me too much credit. I don’t plan half as much as most of the other Jedi generals do.”</p>
<p>“No, I did your job while you were gone, remember? I was up all night, just like you. Making sure everything was okay. I couldn’t have slept even if I’d wanted to.”</p>
<p>He wasn’t sure why it had never occurred to him that she had taken over his job for a week while he was being held captive, but it hadn’t. In fact, the whole idea of her ‘doing his job’ when he left her in charge was a new one. When he thought about it, it really brought to light just how… less than optimal his methods for doing his job were.</p>
<p>An image imprinted itself on his mind, of Ahsoka up all night chasing a dozen different leads with no rhyme or reason to the process. Of her drowning in a complicated task rather than delegating to someone else, pushing through an injury to keep working. Diving into something she’d never dream of asking anyone else to do because sheer <em>faith </em>told her she’d manage to pull it off if she had to. It was all too vivid a picture, and it scared him.</p>
<p>“You know,” he faltered, “when I do stuff like… like this, like staying up all night. You know that’s not me setting an example, right? I don’t… want you to do that.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka gave him an inquisitive look. “Then why do <em>you</em> do it?”</p>
<p>“Well… ah… you know how every once in a while you come across a droid with really screwed-up source files, and you look at the coding and you’re like, what lunatic wrote this? But somehow the droid works in spite of it, so you just… don’t mess with it?” He paused. “That, basically.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka chuckled. “So you’re saying you can get away with it and no one else can.”</p>
<p>“Yes.” He gladly took the opportunity she’d given him, saying it with emphatic confidence. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”</p>
<p>She blew out a laugh and shook her head. Then for a second, her smile disappeared, replaced by something that looked like uncertainty. It was a look Anakin recognized all too well.  </p>
<p>“Hey,” he said gently. “You okay?”</p>
<p>
  <em>Stars, I hope I’m not making this weird again.</em>
</p>
<p>She nodded. “Yeah. I’m okay. Are you?”</p>
<p>He nodded back.</p>
<p>For several more minutes, they sat in silence, him working, her thinking. At first, her presence tugged at him, made him want to keep turning away from the terminal screen to face her. As though if he looked away too long, she wouldn’t be there when he looked back. But after a while, the restlessness subsided, and he was content just to see her at the edge of his vision. The contentment only lasted so long though, before he started to feel like he had to say something. This might be his last chance to say something to her without the Council watching.</p>
<p>At last, he talked himself into doing it.</p>
<p>“Ahsoka,” he said.</p>
<p>“Yes, Master?” She turned to face him.</p>
<p>“Whatever happens today, I just want you to know that… it’s been good.”</p>
<p>The corners of her mouth went up. “Yeah?”</p>
<p>He smiled back, and meant it. “Yeah.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ahsoka walked into the meeting room, trying her best not to fidget. Beside her, Anakin stood with his eyes focused straight ahead, posture straight and relaxed, face betraying nothing. She straightened her spine and attempted an even closer imitation of him than she’d been doing before. It was all she could do to keep from spilling everything out in the hall. From spilling it out that morning in the computer room. But she wanted to have this moment. She wanted to tell him in front of everyone how she really felt.</p>
<p>The holograms were already on when the door hissed shut behind them. The only flesh-and-blood Council member in the room was Obi-Wan. Around him, the others sat in their blue transparent seats, turning the blank white room into a projection of the meeting chamber back on Coruscant. Yoda called the meeting to unofficial order with a tilt of his head.</p>
<p>“An important day this is, for Padawan Tano,” he said. “Given a choice, she has been. To stay with her current master, or to choose another.” He turned to Anakin, fixing him with his stare from across the vastness of space. “Made her decision already, Padawan Tano has,” he addressed him.</p>
<p>Anakin swallowed and glanced at the floor. Then he nodded, as unruffled as ever.</p>
<p>“Share it with us she will, in a moment. But first, let us hear from Master Skywalker. Anything to say to your Padawan, have you?”</p>
<p>Anakin nodded and drew a deep breath before turning to face her. She could almost have thought he was nervous.</p>
<p>“Well… ah… what is there to say?” he said. “You’re a great apprentice.” He glanced away and shrugged. “You fight well. And… you’re a lot like me, which is something I’m sure a lot of people aspire to, but very few achieve.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka rolled her eyes.</p>
<p>“Really.” The mischievous look faded from Anakin’s face. “I don’t have anything negative to say about you. Our time together has been great. You’re a quick learner. You’re brave, you’re smart, you’re funny.” He looked at the floor again and didn’t say more for a couple of seconds. “Who am I kidding? I care about you, Snips. I need you. I’m not gonna lie about that. But the fact is that you deserve the best. And… and I want you to have the best, and I get it now. That what’s best for you… might not be me.”</p>
<p>He paused again and drew a deep breath. “All of that to say, if you choose to be transferred to a new master today, I’m not going to hold it against you. Not for a minute.” He looked her in the eyes and nodded, smiling without opening his mouth. “You deserve the best. Go get it.”</p>
<p>As soon as the words had left his mouth, he looked at the floor again. Then he turned to face the hologram Council. “So, are you going to tell me her decision now?” he asked. Almost demanded. “You’ve kept me waiting long enough.”</p>
<p>Master Yoda raised his eyebrow ridges. “Indeed, we have,” he said. “And waited patiently, you did… until now.”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, Master,” Anakin said, abashed. “Just… please, tell me.”</p>
<p>“Let Padawan Tano tell you herself, why don’t we?” Yoda said. He nodded to Obi-Wan.</p>
<p>It was all Ahsoka could do to keep still as Obi-Wan booted up the recording from her solo meeting with the Council earlier. The hologram resolved between her and Anakin, a smaller, transparent version of herself.</p>
<p>“Masters,” she said, recorded voice crackling slightly. “You asked me yesterday if I want to stay under Master Skywalker’s mentorship or leave. I thought about it for a long time, as I knew you would want me to. But in the end, I realized that no amount of thinking would make a difference. I know what my answer is. It’s the same answer as it was the minute you asked me.” She paused for breath, then continued. “Master Skywalker is… difficult. He’s not like other Padawans’ masters are.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka watched Anakin’s face as the hologram spoke. He was watching it intently, but his expression still betrayed nothing.</p>
<p>“He expects me to figure things out for myself,” the hologram continued. “Expects me to figure <em>him </em>out, which…” she laughed, “if I’m being honest, is a challenge I’m not sure anyone is up for. He’s rough around the edges, always on the move. Expects a lot, doesn’t give praise often, expects you to keep up. But… when it comes down to it, I wouldn’t want a master who was any other way. Because, I think on some level, I <em>have </em>figured him out. And I think he only does what he does because he knows I can handle it.</p>
<p>“I feel I must mention, I didn’t <em>ask</em> to be transferred. I’ve considered it, because you asked me to, but I never wanted to leave. When I complained to Master Kenobi about Master Skywalker’s tactics, I wasn’t saying I wanted a new master. I was just saying I want <em>my </em>master to be better. My choice is and always has been Master Skywalker. No matter our disagreements, no matter how much he drives me crazy sometimes… there’s nowhere I’d rather be than here, and no one I’d rather fight alongside than him.”</p>
<p>With that, the hologram folded out of existence. Master Yoda made the same inquisitive expression he had before the recording started. He turned to Anakin again. “Our verdict, it seems we have,” he said. “In agreement, you are, Master Skywalker?”</p>
<p>Anakin gave an enthusiastic nod, beaming. “Yes, Master.” His voice broke a little, and… was he crying?</p>
<p>Yeah, he was definitely crying.</p>
<p>Ahsoka stood frozen for a second, staring, unsure if she should be more shocked or amused. Then she reached out and falteringly patted his arm.</p>
<p>“It’s okay, Master,” she said.</p>
<p>Anakin pushed the tears out of his eyes with the back of his hand. “I know,” he said hastily, laughing. Then he straightened and took a breath, putting on a more serious tone. “I’ll be a better master to you from now on,” he said. “That’s a promise.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka smiled. “Live and learn, right?”</p>
<p>He smiled back. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>That afternoon, it was business as usual on board the <em>Negotiator. </em>Master Kenobi was giving a passionate unplanned lecture on gundark biology to a couple of barely-interested clone troopers. R2-D2 had made off with the ‘good’ charging cable, again, and Anakin was chasing him down because he needed it for his arm. In the mess hall, two clones were dueling with forks, standing on a table.</p>
<p><em>Just another day in the best legion ever, </em>Ahsoka thought, and took off to go let Artoo hide the good charger in her boot. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>* Credit to KA513/Fenris for this line</p>
<p>Pytetor Fjorkin, his wife, and their mysterious experiments will be the main focus of a much longer work I have planned, titled "Lost Legion." It'll be a while before I get to it... but rest assured, Fjorkin will be back, and all will be revealed in time.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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